Mallee Football League

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The Mallee Football League (MFL) is an Australian rules football competition in South Australia. The League comprises teams located in south eastern South Australia and one team (Murrayville) located in western Victoria. The Mallee Football Leagues official sponsor for the 2008 season will be Adelaide's Sports Centre

The football season usually starts after Easter and ends in early September. The local newspaper "The Border Times" has extensive coverage of each week's results of the MFL. Coverage is also provided on WIN SA during the season. During the Queens Holiday Weekend the MFL selects a team to represent the Mallee against the Riverland, it has become a recent tradition and draws a fair crowd every year. The League's Best & Fairest award is called the "Mail Medal". Prominent players to play at a higher level include Nathan D. Brown (Melbourne FC, Australian Football League), Trent Sporn (Carlton FC), Martin Mattner (Adelaide FC) and Rodney Maynard (Adelaide FC, AFL).

Competing clubs

Border Downs Tintinara Crows

Located in Tintinara and Coonalpyn, the Crows have been in the MFL since 2001. The BDT FC was formed after the Border Downs and the Tintinara clubs merged. Before the Mallee Football League BDT was part of the River Murray Football League. BDT and Karoonda are the only teams in the league to not be on the Mallee Highway, which means it takes a lot longer for most of the teams to travel to. Many teams have forfeited because of this.

The BDT FC in recent years has dominated the B grade and the Junior Colts, in 2006 BDT were premiers in every grade apart from the Junior colts which finished fourth in the Lightning Carnival. The "A" grade team took victory against the Lameroo Hawks as did the "B" Grade. The senior colts team defeated the Pinnaroo Supa Roos with Dustin Head winning the best on ground medal.

At the conclusion of the 2007 season, two Border Downs Tintinara teams were victorious in their grand finals. The senior colts beat the Lameroo Hawks with a score of BDT 14 goals 11 points to Lameroo 7 goals 14 points. The game saw Jake Leske earn the Best On Ground and Paddy Barrett receive the Best Team Man, and a great individual effort from Will Sandford. The A grade team narrowly beat the Murrayville Bulldogs 16 goals 17 points 113 to Murrayville 15 goals 14 points 104.

Karoonda Magpies

Based in Karoonda. The club is currently in crisis, with lack of numbers, and the future of the club in doubt.

Lameroo Hawks

Based in Lameroo, 200 km east of Adelaide. They currently field A & B Grade, U16's & U13's and AUSKICK. Rodney Maynard is the A & B Grade coach; Brenton Maynard coaches U16's & Lynton Barret is the U13's coach.

Lameroo Sports Club will be hosting a 20 year Premiership Re-Union Dinner for Lameroo South (1997 Premiers) & Lameroo North (1998 Premiers.

Murrayville Bulldogs

Based in Murrayville in Victoria, the Bulldogs are the only Victorian team in an otherwise South Australian league.

Peake Lions

The Peake & Districts Football club is based in Peake and include the surrounding towns of Geranium, Jabuk, Parrakie and Peake

Pinnaroo Supa Roos

Based in Pinnaroo, South Australia, the Pinnaroo Football Club plays its home games at the Pinnaroo Showgrounds. The Club has four teams in the Mallee Football League: "A" Grade, Reserves ("B" Grade), Senior Colts (Under 16's), and the Junior Colts (Under 13's). The colours of the Pinnaroo Supa Roos are red, white and black.

The Pinnaroo Supa Roos formed in 1975 after Pinnaroo North and Pinnaroo South merged due to the lack of players. Pinnaroo has produced a few great players over the years but one of the best would have to be Nathen Brown who now plays for West Adelaide after retiring from Melbourne in the AFL.

In 2006 the Supa Roos had a tough year with only one team (Senior Colts) making it to the grand final, only to by beaten by 6 goals. The "A" Grade and "B" Grade made it to the finals but both got beaten during the third week of the finals. The Junior Colts had the "Lightning Carnival" (Round Robin) and finished in 2nd place behind Peake.

In 2007 the Supa Roos had a tough year with only no teams making it to the grand final. The "A" Grade and Senior Colts made it to the finals but both got beaten during the second first final. The "B" Grade finished 5th on the table at the end of the season, beaten only by percentage against Murrayville. The Junior Colts had the "Lightning Carnival" (Round Robin) and finished in 5th place.

In 2008 The "A" Grade coach wass local publican Rick Carrick while the Mini Colts coaches were Joe Smith and Bill O'Driscoll. The B Grade coach was Klod and Senior Colts coach is Grant Dabinett. The A Grade and Senior Colts went through to the finals series. But the A Grade team were knocked out of the race by Murrayville. The Senior Colts made it to the preliminary final but were beaten by Lameroo.

Brief history

In 1994 the Murray Lands Football League and the Lameroo & District Football League merged to form the Mallee Football League. Participating clubs at that time were Lameroo, Murrayville, Ngallo, Karoonda Districts, Peake & Districts and Pinnaroo. In 2000 Ngallo folded and due to lack of players so Border Downs Tintinara joined the league, after playing 10 years in the River Murray FL. Currently the future of the league is in doubt, with many clubs unable to fill all teams. Suggestions have been made to merge with the Mid Murray or Riverland leagues.

Season format

The Mallee Football League's season usually starts shortly after Easter. The season usually consists of 15 Rounds of three games, always on Saturdays (each team plays every other team three times) and two breaks during the season for the Queens Birthday weekend and the other for the SA Country Carnival. Recently the MFL introduced one night game a year, usually at Murrayville. The finals series is based on a top four system: The top two play each other and the winner goes through to the Grand Final, the loser plays the winner of the match between the 3rd and 4th placed team. then the winner of that game goes through to the grand final. the winner of the Grand Final is declared the premiers.

Season 2006

In 2006 the grand final was held in Coonalpyn and Border Downs-Tintinara won the A Grade, Reserves and the Under 16s competitions.

Season 2007

In 2007 the grand final was held in Lameroo and Border Downs-Tintinara won the A Grade and the Under 16s competitions. Peake Lions won their first Reserves premiership since they have been in the league.

Season 2008

In 2008 the grand final was held in Pinnaroo and Lameroo won the A Grade, Reserves competitions, and Peake won the Under 16s premiership.

External links

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* [http://www.lameroohawks.com.au/index.htm Lameroo Hawks website]